Ironing machine



' A N. L ETTEN April- 20, 1937.

Ingame lugar@ F1104 June 14, 193s s Sheets-sheet 1 Panarea Apr.2o, v1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

This invention relates to domestic ironing machines and has for one of its objects the provision of'hyclraulic means for operating the mechanism thereof.

Another object is to provide a manually operated domestic ironing machine having hydraulic means for bringing about pressure between the ironing shoe and pad.

Still another object is to'provide an ironing machine in which uniform pressure is automatically brought about between all portions of the surfaces ofthe pressing shoe and pad.

A 'further object is to provide an ironing machine mechanism adapted to automatically bring about uniform pressure between thev ironing shoe and pad, which vpressure is adjustable to permit an operator to apply light or heavy pressure upon materials being ironed to insure proper pressing thereof.

Other objects will, appear in the following description and accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 5 is a plan view of pump lever parts to bereferred to; Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail view of a portion ofthe pump mechanism to be described,

taken from line 6 6, in Fig. 4;

Fig. '7 is a detail perspective view of a valve member to be described; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view showing 40 details of a hydraulic cylinder to be described,

taken on the line 8-8 in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 discloses the ironing machine as comprising a frame I0 supported upon legs II which are adapted to be se- 5 cured to any suitable support such as a table I2.

Frame I0 is of skeletonconstruction having suitable extension portions for supporting the several elements of the mechanism including an upright extension portion I3 disposed on each 5g end of the machine as indicated in Fig.r 2.

Pivotally supported at I 5, on extensions I3, are

lever members I6. A pressing shoe I1 is pivotally supported at I8 upon the outer ends of levers thereof, is pivotally supported upon the levers at 20 by means of arm members 2l.

Pivotally attached at 22 to each of rearwardly extending portions 23 of levers I6 are toggle link assemblies comprising upper links 24 pivotally 5 connected at 25 to lower links 26 which are pivotally attached at 21 to 'suitably disposed extending portions of frame I0.

Integral with the upper end of links 24'are lip extensions 21'. These extensions have notches 10 28 formed therein which are adapted to be engaged by rearwardly extending linger portions 29 of arms 2|.

Lugs 30 projecting laterally inwardly from the body of levers I6 are so disposed as to limit pivotal 15 movement ofarms 2l through engagement therewith'by fingers 29.

Considering the foregoing, it will be apparent that with the described parts in the position shown insolid lines in Fig. 1, toggle links 24 and 20 26 will rest in dead center relation with the lower portion of linksl 24 resting against extensions 3| of frame portions I3, in which position they are normally retained by means of fingers 29 resting against the upper sides of notches 28., Obviously 25 the weight of hand rail I9 and arms'2-I provides suiiicient upward pressure, through the comparatively short lever arm 29, for the purpose.'

With parts in the position'noted, a slight manual upward movement oi. hand rail I9 will result 30 in downward movement of linger 29 against the lower surface of notch 2B in extension 21', which movement is effective to rotate link 24 counterclockwise about the center 22 to break the dead center' arrangement noted, whereupon further 35 upward and backward movement of hand rail I9 will bring lingers l29 into engagement with -lugs 30 to bring about unitary movement of levers I6 about the center I5. Continued movement as described will place the parts in the po- 40 sitions shown in dotted lines.

Thus is provided a simple, sturdy mechanism by means of which the pressing pad I1 may be lowered to a forward horizontal position, rig-'- idly supported thereat against the buck, or conveniently removed to an upright position, as shown.

' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be noted that pressing head I1 has its under surface longitudinally concaved the same being adapted to register with a complementally formed upper surface of an ironing pad 32 supported upon a frame or base member 33 when the head I1 is lowered on the buck. As viewed in Fig. 2, base 33 has its upper and lower portions joined by an offset neck portion so that an overhung portion is provided which' is adapted'to conveniently receive tubular garments.

Extending downwardly from. both ends of base 33 are pistons 34 which are slidably supported in forwardly extending portions 35 of frame l0 and pass therethrough into cylinder members 36 which are secured to the under side of the frame extensions. Compression springs 31, retained on pistons 34, act 4to cushion the base in its lowered position.

Fig. 8 illustrates that cylinders 36 contain slidable floating head members`38 upon the lower sides of which are pliable sealing members 39. In the bottom of the cylinders are disposed support members 4D which act to support the head members above inlet orifices 4|, formed in the lower side walls of the cylinders. A

Fig. 3 illustrates that cylinders 36 are connected by a pipe line 42 and that they also communicate by pipe lines 43 and 44 with separate portions of a pump mechanism as will now be described.

Referring to Figs. l, 2 and 4, the pump mechanism includes dual cylinders 46 and 41 integrally formed with a body 45. Body 45 is secured to frame Ill as indicated, the upper portion of the body being so formed as to provide areservoir 48 for a purpose to be explained later.

Fig. 6 shows in detail the structure of cylinders 46 and 41 and associated mechanism which includes slidable piston heads 49 having central ducts 49', resilient packing disks 50 also having central ducts and recessed disk members 5| having central ducts, together with radially disposed ducts 5|', the two latter disks being secured to the lower sides of the heads 49.

Coil springs 52 disposed within the cylinders and resting upon the bottoms thereof tend to urge heads 49 toward the tops of the cylinders. In the bottoms of the cylinders are disposed screwed plugs 52 having central ducts 53. Plugs 52' are supported in cylinder end plugs 54 having central orifices 54 and countersunk portions 54". The plugs are screwed into the ends of the cylinder tubes. Attachment plugs 55 having central ducts 56 are screwed into the bottom of plugs 54 and provide means whereby the terminals 51 of conductor tube 43, noted in Fig. 3, are attached to the cylinders.

A check valve to prevent liquid from flowing into the cylinders from. tube 43 is provided by a ball 58 disposed in recess 54" and seated adjacent the lower opening of duct 53, the ball being normally held in contact with` plug 52 by a spring 59.

Piston heads 49 are provided with check valves for preventing flow of liquid from the cylinders. The moving element of the valves is illustrated in Fig. 7 as comprising a disk 60 having a corrugated under surface secured to a shaft 6| as shown, with a weighted portion 6 2 secured to its lower end.

As shown in Fig. 6, the valve element is disposed in the piston head in a circular recess formed inthe upper face of disk member 5|, with the shaft 6| loosely disposed in the central ducts of head 49, packing disk 50 and lower disk 5|.

The recess of disk 5| is so dimensioned as to retain disk 60 in a. loose manner with a small area of clearance :'.round the disk and sufficient clearance between the under surface of disk 5U and the surface of the recessed portion of disk 5| to permit small vertical movement of the disk,

whereby when the piston head is moved downwardly, fluid contained in the cylinder is forced upwardly through the ducts 5|' in disk 5| to quickly force disk 60 into contact with disk 50 to seal the duct thereof. It will be apparent that when liquid in the cylinder is not under pressure, disk 60 will normally rest with its corrugated surface in contact with the surface of disk 5|, it being urged to this portion by gravity.

With disk 60 so placed, a passage will be formed between the exterior and interior of the cylinder by way of duct 49', the central duct of disk 50, through the open area above and around disk 60 through the corrugations on the under side thereof, through ducts 5| into the cylinder. The purpose of this valve arrangement will be made apparent shortly.

Figs. 4 and 5 will illustrate that piston heads 49 have, resting within recesses in their upper sides, vertical rods 63 and 64, the ends of the rods being rounded to permit angular movement of the rods in the recesses of the heads.

The upper end of rod 64 is pivotally secured by a pin 68 to a bifurcated lever 65 which is pivotally supported by means of a pin 61 upon a bracket member 66 extending from cylinder body 45.

The upper end of rod 63 is pivotally secured to a lower portion of a sub-lever 69, also pivotally supported by pin 61 and adapted to move thereon relative to the lever 65. Upward movement of the lever is limited by an extending portion 18 abutting the rear surface of bracket 66.

A U-shaped lever member 1| is pivotally mounted at 12 between the side members of lever 65. The 4upper end of this lever carries a pin 13 upon which is rotatably supported a collar member 14, the collar being retained between the side portions of the lever as' shown.

The lever is urged to rotate clockwise upon the center 12 by springs 15, the opposite ends of which are hooked to the outer ends of pin 68. A notch 16 formed in the end of lever 69 is adapted to receive the collar 14, as urged by springs 15, to form a releasable coupling between levers 69 and 65, whereby lever 69 may move unitarily with lever 65 and rods 64 and 63 may likewise be unitarily moved. Obviously, due to a difference in distance from the center 61, the pressure, `.as brought about by pivotal movement of lever 65, would be relatively greater on rod 64 than upon rod 63.

Fig. 6 particularly illustrates the mechanism of cylinder 41 which is identical with that of cylinder 46 with the exception that adjacent its top in the wall of reservoir 48 is disposed a check valve mechanism comprising a body plug 11 having a central duct, a plug 18 secured therein having a central duct and recess 19 communicating with which is an orifice leading to a tube 44, already noted in Fig. 3.

A check ball is urged by a spring 8| to close the duct of plug 18, an arrangement which would normally prevent liquid from flowing into reservoir 48. However, a pin 82 slidably disposed in the central ducts is adapted to hold the ball away from its seat when its opposite end is engaged by a lever 93 which is pivotally supported at 84 upon brackets formed in the wall of vreservoir 48.

Rod 64 carries a collar 85 which is so disposed, when the rod is in elevated position as in Fig. 6, as to engage lever 93 and thereby propel pin 82 outwardly to open the check as noted.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that lever 65 terminates in a handle 65 which is located forannoso wardly of the machine in 4a position convenient for operation by the user of the machine.

Having in mind the foregoing description. operation of the machine may now lbe explained q .5 as follows:

Itis assumed that the cylinder and piping system is tllled with suitable liquid.

With the head i1 in lowered position and handle 65 in elevated position, a downward-movement 10 of the' handle will causerods 63 and 64 to propel pistons 49 downwardly into cylinders 46 and 41 to force liquid therefrom through pipe lines 43 and 42 into cylinders 36 to propel piston heads 38 upwardly into contact with pistons y34 to l elevate the base 33 and thereby urge the pressing pad 32 into pressure relation with the .head i1. Obviously, the manual pressure applied upon handle 65' will control the pressure exerted between pad 32 and head i1, the total pressure with- 20 in the system being an average ofthosedeveloped within cylinders 46 and 41, the pistonsof which are operated under ditlerent leverages.

It will be noted that during the down stroke of lever 65 piston 64 is moved downwardly to withdraw collar 85 from contact with lever-53, whereby ball 80 is permitted to seat and thus prevent flow of liquid from the cylinder system into reservoir *8. i

The mechanism for--v coupling levers 63 and. 85 has already been noted. It will be clear that. downward movement of lever A65 will.,' result in' building up pressure within the system,*due to abutment of pad 32 by headt I1, to a point 'where the pressure upon piston 48 of cylinder 46 is lgreat notch 16, as produced by springs 15. At this point further movement of lever 65 will bring about escapement of lever 63, with no Abackward movement thereof, due to the check in cylinder 40 46. Thus, piston 63 is rendered inoperative and the pressure'load is placed upon piston 64,` working under comparatively high leverage, so that further downward movement of lever 65 will result in building up greatly increased pressure which, as already noted, is uniformly exerted upon all parts of` pad 32.

Upon return upward'movement of lever 65, collar 85 is brought into engagementwith lever 83 to unseat ball 80, as already noted, to allow liquid to flow, as induced by the I Weight of base' 33v operating upon pistons 34, backwardly into reservoir 48. In the meantime pistons 63 and-64 have levers whichwill thenv also be readyfor a new cycle of operation.

Practical operation of the machine would indicate the following procedure on the part of -a user.

.With head l1 in upright position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, garments are placed on the pad 32, head I1 is broughtdown to horiaontal position adjacent the pad, handle 65' is moved enough to overcome the resistance of roller 14 inliquid, 'ready for a subsequent cycle of operation.

Having this in mind, it'will be' downwardly, operatingl both of cylinders 4ll and 41, thus forcing a comparatively large volume of liquid into cylinders A.36, to speedily elevate pad '32 into contact .with the .shoe and garments.

Continueddownward movement of the handle will eventually break'tiielever coupling as described, whereupon the total manual pressure upon lever 65 is available at cylinder" as described, to bling about extremely high iinal pressure. at the will -of the user, upon pad 32.

Although in Fig. l the head and the buck are shown as slightly separated after the handle i9 has .been lowered, an. initial pressure between Lthesemembers is present during actual operation ."of the 'device when clothing is placed therebe- :tween and even before the operating handle et has been actuated. This initial pressure is exerted because .of the tension of the springs 3.1.

What I vclaim is: l'. An ironing machine having in combina- {tion a base., an ironingl shoe and an ironing buck operatively mounted thereon, means forlocking '-,theshoenn .operative position relative to the buck.

hydraulic fmeans for moving'the buck relative to tlieshoe and manually operated pump means. said pump means for operating said hydraulic -means comprising plural pumping cylinders-.unitarily operable, a manually operated member for actuating said cylinders unitarily, and means for v'r'nveii'iber actsv upon a less number of cylinders 4inoperative whereby said manually -operated 'member acts upona less ynumber of, cylinders to bring about `.increased pressure in said hy- A draulic buck-:moving means.

2. An 4ironing machine having in lcombination a base, an ironing shoe and an ironing buck .operatively mounted thereon, means for locking the shoe in operative 'position relative to the buck,

hydraulic means for moving the buck relatively to the shoe, manually operated dual pump means for operating said hydraulic means, said dual lpump means includinga manually operated lever lfor operating the dual pump means upon partial movement to bring'l about comparatively rapid' movement of said buck under relatively low pressure` and upon further movement to bring about discontinuance of.;,operation of a portion of the dual purnpmeans, whereby the remaining portion thereb'f is renderedeilective for applyingl relatively. higher pressure to the buck moving means.

` 3. An ironing machine having in combination a base, an ironing shoe and an ironing buck operativelylmounted thereon, means for locking the shoe in operative position relative to the buck, hydraulicl means for moving the buck relatively tothe shoe, manually operated'dual pumpmeans lfqramierating saidl vhydraulic means, said dual. .Dlimpmeansincinding a manually operated lever' means for actuating the dual'pump means upon partial movement to bring about comparatively rapid movement of said bucl under relatively low pressure l"and upon continued similar movement: lto bring about' a condition of pressure A-which rendersa portion of the dual pump means inoperative therebyrendering the remaining portion thereof operativewhereby further movement of said lever means brings about relatively high pressure "between the shoe and buck.

, 4`. An ironing machine havingin combination al support, an ironing shoe 'and an ironing buck operatively' mounted thereon. means for locking the shoe in operative position relative to the buck,

' Jhydraulic means for causing movement between shoe and buck to 'bring about pressure therebetween,means for actuating said hydraulic means including mechanism for changing its connection to the hydraulic means for facilitating the increase of pressure between shoe and buck during its actuation.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 5, including means operable by movement of said lever to its initial position for automatically releasing said pressure. y'

7. A machine as set forth in claim 5 in which said hydraulic means is provided with'means so that the pressure brought about by operation of the lever will be maintained at any point even when the force applied to the leverisreleased.

8. An ironing machine comprising an ironing shoe, an ironing buck mounted on'a resilient yielding support, means for locking Vthe shoe in operative position relative to the buck to apply an initial pressure between the shoe and buck, a manually operated lever, hydraulic means controlled by said lever to bring about a predetermined additional pressure between buckI and shoe when said llever is moved partially 'through its completed path, and means altering the connection between the lever and the hydraulic means for A'facilitating the increase of pressure' between shoe and buck when' the'lever is moved further.

9. An ironing' machine having in combination a support, an ironing shoe and an ironing buck operatively mounted thereon, means for locking the shoe in operative position relative to thebuck, hydraulic means for bringing about pressure between the shoe and buck, a manually operated lever for operating said hydraulic means, and

4means automatically operated when the resistance to the movement of the lever reaches a predetermined amount for altering the connections between the lever and the hydraulic means for 11. In an ironing machine of the class described, u

a head movable toward and from ironing position, means for locking said head in ironing position, a movable buck, said buck capable of engaging said head in one of its positions, spring means normally supporting saidI buck, pressure creating means for forcing said buck toward said head to create an ironing pressure therebetween, and a variable length non-yielding transmission mechanism connecting said buck with said pressure creating means. V

I 12. In an ironing machine of the class described, the combination of a frame, a buck supported on said frame for vertical movement, a head adapted to be locked in rigid position above said buck, uid motor means for raising said buck into engagement with said head, a fluid reservoir, a pump supplied' ftherefrom, means for operating "said pump to force fluid under pressure into said uid motor means, and connections between said buck and said fluid motor means whereby the weight of said buck returns said fluid to said reservoir.

NICHOLAS L. E'I'I'EN. 

